Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:RARE)

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:RARE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 16,470 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 855% compared to the typical volume of 1,724 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical

In other Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical news, EVP Karah Herdman Parschauer sold 1,899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.62, for a total transaction of $46,753.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 94,462 shares in the company, valued at $2,325,654.44. This trade represents a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Howard Horn sold 4,683 shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.90, for a total value of $116,606.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,342 shares in the company, valued at $2,747,515.80. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 19,319 shares of company stock worth $476,837 in the last three months. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RARE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,263,815 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $236,068,000 after buying an additional 131,087 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,303,046 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $98,970,000 after acquiring an additional 610,559 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,461,910 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $56,624,000 after acquiring an additional 516,781 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 1,030.4% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,257,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,057,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 614.1% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,167,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,164 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on RARE shares. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial upgraded Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.41.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ RARE traded down $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $27.61. 335,078 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,231,490. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.60. The company has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.51 and a beta of 0.31. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical has a 1-year low of $18.29 and a 1-year high of $39.89.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:RARE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.84) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by ($0.35). Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical had a negative net margin of 91.03% and a negative return on equity of 1,024.42%. The company had revenue of $136.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.57) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical will post -4.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders. Since its founding in 2010 and headquarters in Novato, California, the company has built expertise in protein replacement therapies, small molecules and gene therapy approaches to address high-unmet medical needs. Ultragenyx applies a precision medicine model, leveraging both in-house research and strategic collaborations to advance its product pipeline from discovery through regulatory approval.

The company’s commercial portfolio includes Crysvita (burosumab-tmyl) for X-linked hypophosphatemia, Mepsevii (vestronidase alfa-vjbk) for mucopolysaccharidosis VII and Dojolvi (triheptanoin) for long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders.